InfraGard Members Alliance Houston

FEMA now accepting nominations and applications for membership

National Advisory Council

The National Advisory Council (NAC) shall advise the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on all aspects of emergency management. The National Advisory Council shall incorporate State, local and tribal government and private sector input in the development and revision of the national preparedness goal, the national preparedness system, the National Incident Management System, the National Response Plan and other related plans and strategies.

http://www.fema.gov/about/nac/

Submitted by: E. Charles Sterling

Houston InfraGard Chapter collaborating with DHS to gather assessment data after tropical storms

The Houston InfraGard Chapter is collaborating with the local Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office to provide critical infrastructure damage assessment after any regional disaster.  The DHS will monitor the Houston InfraGard Twitter account IMAHoustonSR for in the field updates.  The Twitter account is only available for Houston InfraGard Chapter members and vetted agencies.  All members and critical infrastructure partners are encouraged to "request to follow" the Twitter account well in advance of any incident.

Additional users will not be added 48 hours before any landfalling storm.

Please refer to our web page at: http://www.infragardhouston.org/infragardhouston/member-resources.html

Tropical Storm Alex forms near Yucatan, may be threat to Gulf of Mexico

The first tropical strom of the 2010 hurricane season has formed off the Yucatan Penninsula.  Additional information on tropical storm Alex may be found at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/tropicalwx/tropgraph.php?value=AT01&storm=TROPICAL+STORM+ALEX&regraph=images/resize/AL0110W.JPG 

Widgets, Twitter to fuel FEMA emergency alerts

Federal Emergency Management Agency wants to deliver broadcast, social media assistance from disaster sites

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced a new widget for disaster preparedness on its  Facebook page page as part of a series of releases to publicize its social media and Gov 2.0 tools for emergency readiness and response.

Full article: http://gcn.com/articles/2010/06/23/fema-pushes-widgets-twitter-for-disaster-preparedness.aspx

Contributed by: Bob Janusaitis

2010 hurricane season is going to be a busy one

The U.S. National Hurricane Center forecasts a 70 percent chance of eight to fourteen storms reaching hurricane strength, and three to seven becoming dangerous “major” hurricanes of category 3 and above.

Reaching the upper end of that range would make 2010 one of the most active hurricane seasons on record (see “2010 hurricane season unusually active,” 3 June 2010 HSNW). What does that mean for residents of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the United States, worried about oil spreading from the Deepwater Horizon blowout? Jeff Hecht offers useful insights:

Was 2005 not “a once in a century” hurricane year? Why are a similar number of storms forecast this year?

Hurricane formation in the north Atlantic and the Caribbean is linked to a cycle called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.

The jury is still out on how future warming will affect hurricanes. “It’s not as simple as warmer oceans mean more storms,” says Gabriel Vecchi, at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory.

http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/2010-hurricane-season-going-be-busy-one

Submitted by: E. Charles Sterling